Ice Hockey Clinches 2nd Straight SCC Title

on February 20, 2014

Here is a look at the tenth week of scheduled games for ORR winter athletics.

Boys’ Basketball: After two wins earlier in the week against Bourne (82-69) and out-of-conference Pope John Paul II (66-44), the Bulldogs looked poised to claim their first SCC title in over a decade. The boys, however, suffered a heartbreaking defeat against Case in their final regular season game, losing 62-58, and consequently losing the SCC title. Thanks to valiant efforts by Jeremy Bare (17 points), Ryan Beatty (13 points), and Jordan Menard (12 points), the Bulldogs were able to come back from an 11-point deficit at the half and take a narrow three-point lead during the fourth quarter. However, the lead was not enough as Case battled back to win the game. ORR, which was set to split the SCC championship with Wareham, dropped back to second place with the loss, as Wareham won their final SCC matchup against GNB Voc-Tech. The boys now await their tournament seeding in the hopes of winning a state title.

Girls’ Basketball: Thanks to a fantastic performance by Michaela Bouvette, the Lady Bulldogs won their lone game of the week against Seekonk, defeating the Lady Warriors with a score of 54-42. Bouvette scored a team-high 20 points on the night, with Morgan Browning providing a key nine points from the paint. Freshman Olivia Labbe also played well, joining Bouvette in double digits with ten points. The win puts the Lady Bulldogs at a 6-12 standing, which will not be enough to get them into the playoffs.

Boys’ Track: Competing at the annual Division 5 Championships, the Bulldogs finished in second place for the entire division, an impressive feat considering the fact that they only had eight boys qualify for the meet. The MVP for the Bulldogs was Kevin Saccone, who won his first ever state title in the hurdles with a time of 7.84 seconds, and placed second in the long-jump, setting a school record of 21 feet, 3.25 inches. Saccone also ran on the 4×200 team with teammates Ben Dion, Chris Demers, and Colin Knapton, which finished fourth in 1:36. Knapton also had a great day, placing second in the 300-meter dash (36.52 seconds) and sixth in the high-jump (5’8”). Knapton, Saccone, and possibly the boys 4×200 relay team will be competing at the All State Meet on Saturday, February 22 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

Girls’ Track: The girls also competed at the Division 5 Championships this week, where they managed to put together a fifth place performance. Leading the way was the girls’ 4×200-meter relay, comprised of Abby Adams, Paige Santos, Morgan DaSilva, and Bailey Truesdale, which finished first in 1:50. Santos also came second in the high jump (5’2”) and third in the 55-meter hurdles (9.02), narrowly edging out teammates Zoe Smith and Adams, who took fourth (9.13) and eighth (9.45) respectively. DaSilva also came in tenth in the 300-meter dash, running a new school record time of 43.58 seconds. Santos and the rest of the girls 4×200 relay will be joining Saccone and Knapton of the boys at the All State Meet next Saturday.

Ice Hockey: The Bulldogs claimed their second consecutive SCC title this week with their 3-1win over Dighton-Rehoboth. Jeremy Lawton scored two goals in the game, while teammate Sam Henri clinched the victory with a goal late in the third period. Chris Nadeau led the defense with 20 saves. The win marks the ninth SCC victory for the Bulldogs, who beat out second place Bourne twice this season.

Below are the overall winter team records, followed by the conference records in wins, losses, and ties as of February 17.

Boys’ Basketball: (16-4-0) (13-3-0); Girls’ Basketball: (6-12-0) (6-9-0); Boys’ Track (6-2-0) (5-2-0); Girls’ Track (8-0-0) (7-0-0); Boys’ Swimming: (1-7-0) (1-7-0); Girls’ Swimming: (4-2-0) (4-2-0); Hockey: (12-7-0) (9-1-0).

By Michael Kassabian

J. Robert “Bob” Carrier

on February 20, 2014

J. Robert “Bob” Carrier passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his loving family on February 13, 2014. For 63 years he was the beloved husband and best friend of Barbara Ann (Correia) Carrier.

Born in New Bedford in 1928 to the late Antonio and Julia Carrier, Bob had resided in Mattapoisett since 1958. He was a World War II veteran serving on the battleship U.S.S. Iowa. He was a member of the U.S.S.Iowa Veterans Association which is engaged in preserving the battleship.

When Bob was fourteen years old, he flung and hit a thirteen year old girl with a snowball. That girl, Barbara Correia, was to become the love of his life for over seventy years.

While in high school, Bob began his life long romance with food and fine dining by working in several local establishments including the Wamsutta Club, The New Bedford Hotel, The Shining Tides and The Holiday House. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in Food Management in 1958. That same year in partnership with John Mott and Ray Anderson, Bob purchased the Harbor Beach Lodge on Aucoot Road in Mattapoisett.

Bob, John and Ray transformed the Harbor Beach into an upscale private club of which hundreds of locals were proud to be members. The club featured fine dining, dancing and entertainment. Former club members still fondly recall the Beaux and Belles singing waiters and waitresses, Bud Lilley’s Fine Orchestra, featured pianist Doc Harvey, panoramic ocean views and of course the delicious food including Harbor Beach’s famous Baked Stuffed Shrimp. Club members were treated to special events such as The New Year’s Day Buffet complete with the Bourbon Street Parader’s Dixieland Jazz, Cape Cod Canal Cruises, fishing trips, New Hampshire Ski Trips and special parties and events throughout the year. In 1972, the club opened its doors to the general public for fine dining and dancing. Most of all the Harbor Beach Club is remembered for its tasteful elegance. Valets parked cars for patrons dressed in evening wear. Women wore evening gowns and furs while the men were decked out in sports jackets and ties. And of course the hallmark of it all was Harbor Beach’s magnificent Bill of Fare.

In a Standard times article written in 1978, Bob said “For thirty five years, it’s been food all the way.” Bob seldom worked from recipes but invented his own or traded secrets with the finest chefs in New England. He was never flustered by the high pressure of a full house. Bob remarked then: “You can’t be nervous. You have to have the kind of personality that keeps cool, that doesn’t disrupt the night’s flow.”

Bob sold the Harbor Beach Club in 1978, and began Bob Carrier’s Fine Catering. Bob was particularly honored with catering jobs that took him to the Newport mansions, the America’s Cup Races and many unique locations. He took great pride in his craft, working with every client to create a menu exclusively designed for their guests and event.

Bob also had a great love of the sea and spent many happy hours on his boat enjoying a good cigar. He loved Mattapoisett and believed in giving back to his community. He will be deeply missed.

Survivors include his wife, Barbara, his daughters, Cathy A. Bowers and her husband Robert Bowers and son Jayme Wood of Mattapoisett, Pamela A. Carrier of Mattapoisett, and Jennifer A. Carrier and her husband Charles Gross and daughter Amanda A. Gross of New Bedford.

His Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Saturday March 8, 2014 at 11 AM at St. Anthony’s Church, Mattapoisett. Arrangements are by the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Road Mattapoisett. For online condolence book, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Church Street Station P.O. Box 780, New York, NY 10008.

Steven S. Sylvia

on February 20, 2014

Steven S. Sylvia, 92, of Fairhaven passed away Sunday, February 16, 2014, at Alden Court Nursing and Rehab Center, in Fairhaven, after a long illness. He was the husband of 70 years, of Marjorie (Justley) Sylvia.

Born and raised in New Bedford, the son of the late Louis and Theresa (Jacintho) Sylvia, he settled in Fairhaven in 1947.

Steve was a WWII Army veteran and served in the Pacific. He later worked as an auto mechanic until his retirement. He loved all sports, but excelled at golf and was a life member at Reservation Golf Club, in Mattapoisett. He was also a member of the American Legion Post 166, in Fairhaven.

Beside his wife, Steven leaves a daughter, Donna (Sylvia) Gagnon and her husband Ronald of New Bedford; a grandson, Peter Dlugosinski of New Bedford; two great granddaughters, Emerson and Allison Dlugosinski, both of Dartmouth; a sister, Gertrude Sylvia and her dear friend, Florence Figueiredo of New Bedford.

Private arrangements are by the Fairhaven Funeral Home, 117 Main Street, Fairhaven.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Alzheimer’s Assoc., 311 Arsenal St., Watertown, MA 02472.

Evelyn J. (Morgado) Eleniefsky

on February 20, 2014

Evelyn J. (Morgado) Eleniefsky, 74, of Carver died Tuesday February 18, 2014 at home surrounded by her family after a battle with cancer. She was the wife of Robert A. Eleniefsky.

Born in New Bedford, the daughter of the late Robert and Elsie (Perry) Morgado, she lived in Mattapoisett and Rochester for many years before moving to Carver 15 years ago.

Mrs. Eleniefsky worked with her husband aboard their commercial dragger “The Four Kids.”

She was a graduate of Fairhaven High School. She loved knitting and spending time with her grandchildren.

She is survived by her husband, Robert; three children, Debra Stoltz and her husband Gary of Cooper City, FL, Paula Eleniefsky and her partner Jim Sittig of Marion, and Gary Eleniefsky and his wife Cara of Rochester; her siblings, Betty Washington of North Carolina and Walter Morgado of Mattapoisett; two grandchildren, Jacob and Josephine; and several nieces and nephews.

Her Memorial Service will be held on Saturday March 1, 2014 at 11 AM at the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Rd., Route 6, Mattapoisett. Please omit flowers. For directions and guestbook, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.

Legally Blonde: The Musical

on February 20, 2014

Megane Mongrain playing Elle Woods and Matthew Tracy who plays her Harvard-bound boyfriend, Warner Huntington III in ‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’, running from February 20 through 22 at 7:30pm in the Fireman Auditorium, Hoyt Hall, Tabor Academy. Photos by Felix Perez.

Inside the ORR School District

on February 20, 2014

ORRHS School to Career program is featured on “Inside the ORR School District” with Supt.Doug White. The series airs on Comcast Ch.97 and Verizon Ch.37 Education Channel. Pictured L-R seated: ORR Seniors Shawn McCombe, James Glavin, Emily Goerges, Elizabeth Machado, L-R standing: Scott Greany, ORR School to Career Coord., ORR School Dist. Supt. Doug White. Photo by Deborah Stinson

Germany’s Difficult History

on February 19, 2014

Why did Germany fly off the rails, and how could her history have been different? On Thursday, February 20 at the Marion Music Hall (164 Front Street) at 7:00 pm, Dr. Kirtland Mead will explore this provocative question. In this centennial year of World War I, any student of European or world history must ask why Germany – which had been so civilized and orderly – became unstable around 1900 and led Europe into the two world wars.

During his presentation, Dr. Mead will ‘unpack’ German history, beginning with the Roman Empire, proceeding through the key medieval and early modern centuries, and culminating in the 19th century leading up to 1914. After identifying the key developments and decision points and their consequences, he will draw lessons for the challenges of achieving political development and stability today outside the developed West. Mead’s insights are based on an academic, professional, and personal involvement with Germany extending back to the 1960s.

This presentation (originally scheduled for February 13) is co-sponsored by the Sippican Historical Society and the Elizabeth Taber Library, and is offered to the public free of charge. No reservations are necessary. For more information, contact info@sipppicanhistoricalsociety.org or call 508-748-1116.

ORRJHS Oxfam Hunger Banquet

on February 19, 2014

To the Editor:

On behalf of the ORRJHS seventh grade teachers and students, I would like to express our appreciation to our parents: Kelly Horton, Rania Lavranos-Judd, Diane St. Pierre and Christine Winters. With their support and hard work, a vision of the ORRJHS Oxfam Hunger Banquet came to be. This group of parents made the educational event possible and a memorable experience for our students. We would also like to thank Annette Brickley, Education Manager at the New Bedford Ocean Explorium. The research she presented, along with a call for action, was motivating for all. For all those who attended and assisted in any way, we appreciate the support and willingness to lend a helping hand.

With gratitude,

Kathryn Gauvin,

ORRJHS Seventh Grade Science Teacher

The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence.

Jobs Cut, New GPA System Adopted

on February 19, 2014

Just as he has managed to accomplish with all of the schools’ fiscal year 2015 budgets so far, ORR Superintendent Doug White presented a more palatable budget to the ORR School Committee, down from requesting an additional $828,000 in January to $206,000 on February 12.

The price of that decrease, though, will be paid in part with a decrease in staff, and so far one facilities position and at least two Special Education professional and support staff positions are slated for reduction, although White would not go into specifics until the staff was first informed. The budget also calls for reducing a full-time foreign language teacher to part-time.

Of the 27 sections of foreign language, the school would lose three, as the school closely monitors student enrollment in each language course to decide where to start phasing out classes.

The budget now stands at $17,060,000, up 1.22% from FY14.

“This number can be supported in the three towns,” said White. “So that’s where we are now.”

A cut in stipend positions would put an end to “delayed start” mornings, a program Principal Michael Devoll says has been very successful.

“As you go further down the cut list, you start looking at the impact on students,” said Devoll.

In addition to cuts in staff, $325,000 will be taken from the excess and deficiency reserve, which would leave about $200,000 in the reserve.

“That is not a good accounting practice,” said White, and the three towns have asked White if it was possible to reduce that $325,000 by around $100,000. This, said White, would depend on several factors such as state funding and other unknown final costs that cannot be calculated until later in the year.

The joint School Committees will hold a public hearing in March 13 regarding the budget.

In other business, the committee adopted a 4.0 grade point average system, doing away with the school’s 5.2 GPA system in order to simplify matters and make students’ transitions to state colleges and universities go more smoothly.

Devoll admitted that the system was confusing for students, even misleading at times, since a straight-A student taking B-level classes could still wind up with a 3.4 GPA in the 5.2 GPA system.

There was a bit on contention over Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment courses, which will now receive an extra .5 credits, an incentive for students to take Dual Enrollment courses which did not offer any credits toward the GPA before.

Cathy Smilan spoke on behalf of her son Justin, a student enrolled in Dual Enrollment classes who, at this time, excels in the courses but is not receiving GPA credit. She says this disqualifies him from being class valedictorian and speaking at graduation, something that is very important to him.

Devoll suggested allowing students like Justin to be considered by the Standing Committee on a case-by-case basis. No vote was taken to allow for further discussion of the matter.

The committee voted to require students taking AP courses to complete the national exam in order to receive full credit for the course, a move away from the old policy that allowed students to choose whether they wanted to forego the national AP exam and only take the class final exam for credit.

“We don’t necessarily view this as a problem,” said Devoll, who advocated for not changing the policy. He said it could potentially discourage students from taking the AP courses. “My preference is to maintain the status quo.”

Most schools in Massachusetts, however, require the students to take the AP exam for AP credit, and if they do not, they are dropped down to Honors-level credit.

Several committee members acknowledged that it was not fair that AP students who opted out of the national exam received the same credit as students who took the AP exam.

“This is a standard I think we should uphold,” said Robin Rounseville. “It’s like getting your driver’s license without taking the road test.”

With the policy adopted by the committee, the AP exam grade would not affect the student’s overall grade for the course per se, and students would not have to take the school’s final exam for the AP class.

Also at the meeting, after a lengthy discussion, the committee voted to reinstate the four-year physical education requirement for graduation, which will take effect with the class of 2017.

In other news, now that the committee has approved the request, a tree will be planted near the track area of ORR in memory of Dana Dourdeville.

The public hearing to discuss the ORR budget will be held on March 13 at 6:00 pm in the ORR School Committee Conference Room. Residents are welcome to voice their concerns and give their feedback on budget matters.

By Jean Perry

Getting a Taste of World Hunger

on February 19, 2014

Malnutrition is the leading cause of child mortality, accounting for one-third of all deaths worldwide of children under the age of five. One in eight people on Earth goes to bed hungry every night according to Oxfam, an international confederation of 17 organizations that work together to help create lasting solutions to the injustice of poverty.

The main message driven home the night of February 13 at the Old Rochester Regional Junior High School’s Oxfam Banquet fundraising event was that world hunger is not about a lack of food, nor is it about having enough resources for the entire world’s population to survive.

“Hunger is about power,” read the dozens of Oxfam factsheets placed on the tables throughout the cafeteria.

Companies and governments control the global food system, says Oxfam, “and they determine who eats and who doesn’t.”

Exacerbating the problem is climate change, the underlying theme of the event, which has dramatically increased throughout the planet; but nowhere more often are the effects of the changing climate witnessed than in developing countries.

The poorest of the human population are at the very frontlines of global climate change, with extreme weather conditions disrupting agriculture and drying up water supplies, while driving up food prices and plunging millions into poverty and hunger.

As the guests arrived, each was handed a ticket at random and informed that the meal they received would be determined by which class they were given – lower, middle, or upper.

The lower class, representing 50 percent of the world’s population living in poverty, were directed to their seating area on the sidelines of the cafeteria; they either sat in chairs or on the floor, eating a simple meal of plain white rice with a cup of water.

Middle class guests – representing the 35 percent of the population making between $1,000 and $11,999 per year – sat at long tables with benches and were fed white rice, black beans, and apple juice.

The minority of the human population – the remaining 15 percent – sat at round tables covered with table cloths, and enjoyed a full meal of rice, beans, baked fish, and cookies for dessert.

The guests symbolically witnessed first-hand the inequitable distribution of food and resources throughout the world, as the haves and have-nots ate their meals, segregated into their own areas of the room, but close enough to witness the unjust circumstances – and smell the delicious aroma of baked fish and seasoned black beans, of which half the people there were deprived.

“It really put things into perspective,” said Diane Braz, whose daughter Michaela was one of the volunteers serving food. “My son got one of the high class meals,” she said, pointing toward the center of the cafeteria, her empty plate of the white rice she had eaten still in her hand.

“I thought it was a very satisfying meal,” said middle-class guest Daisy Noble Shriver, who finished her rice and beans. “I was lucky to be in the middle class.”

Ironically, it was the lower and middle-class guests who seemingly cleaned their plates, leaving very little of their simple meal behind, while many of the upper-class guests still had rice on their plates, and a few even wasted significant portions of fish – an analogy of sorts that is, tragically, not very far from reality.

A lot went into planning the evening, an Oxfam fundraising event that takes place all across the country to drive home the message that climate change and world hunger are, in fact, related and both are on the rise.

Kathy Gauvin’s seventh-grade students had been studying climate change in her class, and the Oxfam Banquet was the culminating event. Gauvin said that although she spearheaded the event, the students organized the banquet on their own, along with parents who assisted in collecting the food and drink donations served at the event.

Just about 100 students volunteered, either by serving and cleaning up, or by presenting resources to raise awareness of climate change and world hunger, including informative science projects and an art committee who designed and hung posters throughout the school.

“It really is about the kids, and teaching them how to be global citizens,” said Gauvin. “It’s nice to have parents, students, and teachers all working together for a common cause. It always feels good.”

By Jean Perry